


It's a God Damn Arm's Race

by cedricslove



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Returns, Bucky causes problems, Light Angst, M/M, Slight Character Bashing, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, bucky is an asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 20:00:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6022882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedricslove/pseuds/cedricslove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place after the events of CA:TWS. When Bucky Barnes moves into the Tower, everything changes. Blossoming relationships might not be able to handle the return of Captain America's best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a God Damn Arm's Race

Tony doesn't know what to say for the first time in his life. But then, he isn't in a typical situation; sitting in his workshop with his 95 year old captain and an ex-assassin who is said captain’s best friend. It's all kinds of fucked up, so for once he’s content to work in silence, focusing all of his energy on the metal creation in front of him. He pokes it a few times earning himself a glare from Barnes, but he pushes on. “I think it'll grow back.” He finally says, pushing away from the table. “I want Banner's opinion as well, but I think the serum is close enough to Dr. Erskine's that you’ll heal.”

There was silence for a full minute before Steve spoke. “Are you saying he can have _his_ arm back?”

“Let's get Bruce to look first, but yes. That metal garbage is going to hurt like a bitch coming off. But if Dad had the tech to fix you up, I certainly am capable of re-growing an arm.” He smirked, causing Steve's lips to twitch into a smile as well.

“Your father didn't make Steve,” Bucky growled out. “But he never looked at him as anything more than a science experiment.”

“You have to admit there was technology involved in the transformation?” Tony asked in confusion.

“Steve didn't need him, not to be better. And, your old man was a bastard.”

Tony just stared, anger starting to build behind his eyes. “Well we agree on both points then.” He picked up his phone and after a moment said, “Bruce is waiting in his lab.” With that he turned his back on the two friends and started tinkering with the phone in front of him. He could feel holes being glared into his back, but he was used to public attention and brushed it off.

After a tense moment, he heard the door open and then slam closed. “That guy is worse than his father. He doesn't even see you as human; you're just his property, an invention.”

“Buck, you know Howard and I were friends, you were never around him.”

The sounds of the conversation became muffled as they walked down the hallway and Tony slammed his head against the table. “JARVIS,” he grumbled.

“Protocol number five sir?”

Tony just nodded. The glass walls of the workshop tinted and soft jazz music floated through the air. Tony sighed as memories of his mother were forced into his mind. Although Howard had been a shitty parent, a thought he didn’t care to dwell on since Steve seemed so ready to defend his father and not him; his childhood hadn’t been all bad. Maria Stark had been an amazing woman. Nearly fifteen years Howard’s junior, she had been his secretary, slowly falling in love with the playboy. She’d had endless patience with Tony, her only help raising him coming from his distant Aunt Peggy and the real Jarvis. She’d been dead for over twenty years, but he missed her.

After twenty minutes of wallowing and throwing himself a pity-party, he shook his head forcefully. “Protocol three JARVIS.” The windows became clear once more and Black Sabbath blasted through his speakers. Tony went back to work on the Stark Phone in front of him. He was startled out of his concentration half an hour later by the doors opening. Only four people had access to his lab at level three security, so he looked up hopefully. He wasn’t exactly disappointed to see Bruce, but his relaxed state disappeared. “What was your conclusion Dr. Frankenstein?”

“I agree with your hypothesis. At any rate, to build him a less obtrusive arm it would have to come off anyway. I think that as soon as we take it off we’ll know if there could be healing potential.”

“I’ll start designs for the new arm immediately. The initial research I did made me realize how many uses this could have in changing the way we make prosthetics. Once we get a prototype made we can take it to the board. I could use the stock boost.”

Bruce looked strangely at him for a moment before nodding. “I saw that the arm reacted to Barnes’ thoughts, but it needs to react faster. And surely we can make it more streamlined?”

“I’m not putting Stark Industries name on anything other than a flesh matched prosthetic.” He got the weird look from Bruce again before they started drafting plans.

The two continued working until Bruce finally stood and shook his shoulders. “JARVIS how long have we been working?”

“For six hours and thirty-five minutes sir. It is now 3:42 am.”

Bruce shook himself again. “I’m going to get some sleep”

“Don’t want you getting angry due to lack of sleep!” Tony yelled at his retreating back.

The next morning Bruce stumbled into the kitchen around noon, making grabby hands at the coffee. He filled two cups and carried them down to the workshop where he found Tony in the same position. Tony took the coffee but shook his head slightly, delving straight into an explanation of the progress he’d made. The two worked until Bruce made them eat, but they returned to the workshop soon after. They continued until 4am when Bruce stumbled to bed. The same exact pattern was repeated on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning Bruce was becoming genuinely worried. When he got to the kitchen for his coffee he found Bucky, Natasha and Steve, but didn’t see Tony there and he sighed. “JARVIS, when was the last time Tony slept?”

“It has been approximately 70 hours sir.”

Bruce nodded, the answer not exactly surprising him. He noticed the others studiously avoiding his gaze though and resigned himself to his fate. Once Bruce had gotten halfway down the stairs Bucky chuckled. “Stark is pathetic. Where would he be without all of you to babysit him? Can the man do anything for himself?”

Natasha slowly turned in her seat to stare to him. “That is my friend, and if you disrespect him again you will not have vocal cords with which to do so. Вы понимаете?” Bucky nodded, thoroughly cowed by the red-head’s words and the group went back to eating in silence.

Bruce trudged back up the stairs, “Captain can I speak with you?”

Steve nodded and quickly followed the scientist into the hallway. “What’s wrong?”

“Tony has the security in the lab set to level five.”

Steve began jogging down the stairs, “JARVIS, life signals on Tony?”

“Normal Captain.”

Steve nodded, grateful for the AI’s assistance. He quickly let himself into the workshop and found Tony furiously typing on his computer. Steve pulled Tony into a hug and simply held him until some of the tension bled out of his limbs. “I’m sorry.”

“I know, and I don’t want to push you into anything. But this is really difficult on me. I’ve never had a serious relationship like this, you know that. After I finish the prosthetics and the surgery, I’m going to take some time to deal with CEO things that I’ve put off for far too long. You’ll have time to focus on your friend, but if you need me to come back I’ll make myself available.”

“I don’t want you to have to leave.”

“I don’t see another choice here Steve.”

Steve nodded and buried his face in Tony’s neck. After a minute he pulled himself away, he pressed a kiss against Tony’s forehead and then pulled him out of the workshop. When they made it back to the level of the main common area Steve moved away and Tony felt cold seep between them. “Go get some sleep Tony. If Fury calls us for duty we can’t have you unrested.”

“Well someone stole my favorite pillow Capsicle so I don’t see that happening.” Tony snapped back, not wanting to hear that Captain America was the one worrying about him. Steve frowned at Tony’s back, he felt as if his emotions were being pulled in a million directions.

Thor and Bucky were sitting awkwardly in the living room, having heard the exchange. Thor had only recently returned to earth, the news of SHIELD and Hydra having reached him through Heimdall he had hurried to assist his friends. Bucky turned to him and said, “What is your opinion on Stark?”

“The Man of Iron is an honorable warrior, one I am proud to call my shield-brother.”

There was silence again as Steve came into the room and sat on the couch, eyes staring unfocused at the tv. “Don’t you think Stark’s acting like a sissy? With not being able to sleep without his pillow?” Bucky asked Thor.

Thor glared, the Thunder God’s hair beginning to whip over his face as he subconsciously called the wind. “The Man of Iron has taken us into his home, and after the great battles he has faced terror is not uncommon. If you mean to imply that Anthony is less of a man because of it, I can assure you that is not true. And if you mean to insult him by calling him a woman, I know many women who are much braver than I who would not take so kindly to such words. I will hear no more against my shield-brother.” Thor stood to leave and then stopped in the doorway. “Captain, I desire to spar if you will join me.”

Steve shook his head, “I think Natasha was in the gym earlier, I’m sure she’d spar with you.” Thor nodded and left the room, leaving the two friends in silence once again. “I was thinking that we could talk about the end of the war today.” Steve suggested gently, warily looking at Bucky’s expression.

“I guess it has to start sometime…”

“I know that you have a lot of guilt over what’s happened, but it wasn’t you Buck. You have to learn about the history we missed. I’m not exactly far along either here, we’re going to learn together, support each other like we have always done.”

Bucky nodded and clapped Steve on the shoulder. “It’s still weird you aren’t a head shorter than me when you say that.”

For the next week life continued as usual in the Avengers Tower. Tony and Bruce spent nearly all of their time in the workshop, and Steve would drag his boyfriend out when he’d spent too much time working. Steve and Bucky were slowly working through the history of the past together, learning about pop culture, politics and major events made their work slow, but it was better that way. Steve was still dreading when they reached the first appearance of the Winter Soldier, but Bucky was handling everything much better, even going to therapy.

Finally on Saturday morning Bruce and Tony emerged from the workshop with their prosthetic. _“Everyone come quickly, Genius on display here!”_  Everyone rolled their eyes at the text but quickly went down to the living room. Tony and Bruce stood in the middle of the room, while the Avengers threw themselves onto furniture haphazardly. Thor ended up sprawled on the couch, Natasha curled in a ball on a chair while Clint perched on the arm, and Steve and Bucky sat respectfully on the loveseat. Tony was practically bouncing with energy as he waited for everyone to get comfortable. “Ok first things first Sergeant, would you want the arm to match the strength in your normal one or the metal one?”

Bucky frowned at the indelicacy of the question, “What difference would it make?” He questioned harshly.

Tony’s left eye twitched slightly but Clint jumped in before he could say anything. “Well you’ll be off balance at first. Even with the same strength as your metal arm, the prosthetic won’t weigh nearly as much, so you’ll be adjusting to that already. Without your balance, you won’t really be able to fight anymore, so it’s important to know your strength going into relearning balance.” Tony nodded gratefully at Clint, but the archer was busy glaring at Barnes.

“You can think about it. The important thing here is how easily it will react to your thoughts and that it will look natural.” With flair he pulled a small sheet off of the prosthetic. The Avengers all stared for a moment.

“Surely you deceive us Anthony. That is a human arm.”

“Not at all Point Break. This is the workings of Stark Industries right here.” He picked up the prosthetic, “It’s attached to Bruce’s brain waves right now; so whenever he moves his arm this will react in the same exact way.”

Bruce began by flexing his fingers gently, his real arm and the prosthetic responded in the same way. He continued demonstrating the reaction rate, performing increasingly difficult motor tasks. “Obviously the demonstration is more difficult because it’s not attached to me and is limited in range of motion because of that, but it’s ready.”

“I’m impressed Stark.” Natasha said before climbing out of her chair and stretching.

“Thanks Natalie,” he said with a wink, causing the redhead to actually laugh. Tony smiled as well and turned back to the group, ignoring her as she leant down to whisper to Clint. “So all I need from the USSR here is some decisions about the strength level, and how long you want us to wait between removing the metal arm and putting this prosthetic on. We’re thinking of surgery on Monday, and don’t worry I have the best of the best flying in to do it at the Brooklyn Hospital. Let’s go Brucie,” he said, uncomfortable with the silence and glare directed at him from Barnes.

“Barnes I’m heading to the shooting range if you want to come along.” Natasha said, not waiting for an answer as she sauntered out of the room.

Bucky looked at Steve for an answer but was cut off by Clint, “Captain we have a code 20-40.”

Steve nodded, “Meet in the board room Barton.” Clint turned and walked out of the room as well.

“Everything ok?”

“Just confidential mission briefing. If you don’t feel like shooting you can use my boxing gym.” He offered with a small smile before jogging up to the board room. He closed the door tightly behind him and turned to face Clint. “What’s the mission Barton?”

“The mission is me telling you off Cap,” Clint said, anger and sarcasm lacing his words. “Not one of us expected your relationship to last; we all told you that Tony was an asshole before you started it. But you were sure you could make it work, that you could handle him. And I don’t care what happened between the two of you. But you are the one acting like an ass. Tony is ours, and we never expected you to hurt him. Whenever Tony is around your friend is purposefully hurtful to him and to us, and you don’t even care.”

“It’s not that simple!”

“I don’t actually care about your explanation.” Clint said simply. “But you might as well wait.”

As if called by Clint’s statement Tony entered the room alone. The two men stood staring at each other in silence until Tony ducked his head, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “I didn’t ask them to fight my battles for me.”

“I know they care, but Tony this is complex. You have to understand that when I woke up, adjusting to life seventy years in the future wasn’t easy. I grew up Christian, and religion has remained important to me. But beyond that, being gay in the 40’s wasn’t just considered morally wrong, you could literally go to jail for it. Or worse, be sent to a mental institution. It was common knowledge that lobotomies and electric shock treatment awaited you. It was terrifying, I was afraid every day and only the fact that I was so socially awkward saved me. Then in the war, I saw so many homosexual people in the concentration camps, and even though I knew what Hitler was doing was completely wrong, it was hard to think that I could have been stuck there as well. To wake up here, to walk down the street and see two men holding hands, or two women kissing, it completely shocked me. I spent ten years hating myself for who I was and these people were free to be open and it was unsettling. And then with everything we faced as a team against Loki I didn’t have a moment to breathe let alone think about it. But of course that’s when I met you, and I just wanted so badly. I was convinced it would blow up in my face but here we are almost a year later and I’m messing it all up, when I swore I wouldn’t hurt you after hearing just the minimum of how Howard treated you.”

“Steve, I get that, and I get that it’s not easy dating me. But how long are you going to keep me hidden?”

Steve sighed again and covered his face with his hands. “It’s not about you Tony. I know you and Bucky don’t exactly get along but that’s not why I’m hesitant. He grew up in that time as well, and he didn’t have the mindset I did with understanding it. He was on the complete other side and saw it as something to condemn and not think about further. Beyond that, I’m the only person he has to ground him. I’d ask any gal to put our relationship to the side while I focused on him, but me being gay is going to take some time. I don’t know what to do; I can’t lose either of you.”

Tony was frozen, staring at the man in front of him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Steve was only in his mid-twenties, that one day he’d stepped out of an era that condemned his sexuality into one that told him it was ok. But watching him break down, Tony truly realized how young he was.

“Hey, it's ok, it’s ok.” Tony insisted, gripping Steve’s arm tightly. “Right now Barnes has to come first, and I get that. As soon as I oversee the surgery I’m taking a month to travel and handle SI. I love you, and I hate seeing you torn apart like this.”

“Just promise this isn’t you walking away.”

“If this was me walking away you’d know Steve.” He said with a smirk. “I am definitely the kind of guy to cause a scene. I’m also too insecure not to call you every day, so you better answer that new StarkPhone I made you.”

Steve relaxed and leant down to lay his head against Tony’s. He felt for the first time that maybe he could have everything and he smiled before pulling Tony up for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.. This has been mulling in my head and my computer for a long time. I hope that it doesn't suck.. I'll be posting the rest soon! I just want to make it clear that I love Bucky, but he's not ok, and it's going to take a little while. If you feel like finding me on tumblr, https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mrsnyotauhurascott


End file.
